SalesTechStar Interview with Nadav Avni, CMO at Radix Technologies

Nadav Avni, CMO at Radix Technologies comments on the latest technologies impacting the retail purchase and POS (point of sale) experience:

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Welcome to this SalesTechStar chat Nadav, tell us about yourself and your role at Radix… 

My name is Nadav Avni, I have more than 15 years of experience in business, mainly working for international tech companies.

In the last 4.5 years, I have been leading the marketing efforts at Radix, started as Marketing Director and later got promoted to Chief Marketing Officer.

Being Chief Marketing Officer means that you are involved in almost every major business decision.

In my role today, I am overseeing the marketing department, and responsible for execution, planning and strategy.

In addition, under my wing can be found account management/customer success, channel management, and some of the business development.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on the latest technologies that are streamlining modern retails operations and also how single-purpose device management can help here?

The retail sector reinvented itself as many retailers in addition to the traditional brick and mortar locations have a well-established e-commerce presence (website and app), both complementing each other.

When looking at smart devices used in retail, we see several trends:

PoS/mPoS systems are being used to avoid/reduce queues, self-checkout was added, retailers found that many customers like to checkout by themselves for many reasons (more privacy, transparency, etc.).

In addition, employees can walk around with mPoS to quicky checkout customer, check inventory and even order missing items.

Smart carts – equipped with an interactive screen used for digital signage and PoS, can auto detect what was added to the cart, provide information on the price, what is on sale, etc. In addition, customized content and coupons/offers and of course self-checkout.

Interactive information kiosks – customers can now interact, check information like hours of operation, inventory, what is on sale, etc. and with AI, when adding characteristics and personal preferences receive suggestions and tips.

Digital signage – these can be found anywhere in many forms and shapes, and with the use of cameras, analytics and AI, content/offers can be customized based on sex, age, etc.

XR – this is helping to create immersive experiences, can be used for employee training, make employees better at their job, and take customer experience to the next level from 360 degrees try it yourself to touring the location in a unique way, discovering new things, etc.

Once retailers use smart devices as part of their operations it means that they made the financial investment, they have a device fleet and they need to make sure it stays healthy, patched and tuned to its mission. Device management can help with App management – making sure the relevant apps are up to date.

Configuration and settings management is key too – because it helps lock the device (kiosk mode) that it will be only used for work purposes, no games, social media or change of settings.

Also, in a case device is lost or stolen, they can track, lock and wipe it and reduce the risk that valuable information falls into the wrong hands.

Remote support – in case an employee is having a problem operating the device, a support engineer can connect remotely, troubleshoot and make the device operational as soon as possible while reducing the churn.

Monitoring and analysis (telemetry) – optimize your device usage and make fact-based decisions, e.g. additional training on how to operate the device is required, connectivity is not that good, if it is wifi, we may need to add network amplifiers or if it is sim data, shift to another connectivity provider, etc.

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How are you seeing demand and use of kiosks, barcode scanners, and self-checkout stations grow in today’s global retail market? Can you talk about some of the top brands that are using these technologies to drive impact at the point of sale and how? 

Digital transformation makes our lives better, as already mentioned the adoption of smart devices in retail can streamline operations, save time and money and benefit customers in many ways, hence many retailers adopt them. When retailers would like to drive impact at the point of sale, they do several things:

Before the customer starts the checkout process, the point of sale touchscreen is in “standby mode” displaying advertisements of products and services.

Next to the point of sale, retailers place in an eye sight “simple choice” and “tempting” products (popular, comfort, cheap and/or always needed so it won’t hurt to have another) that customers usually add in the last minute without too much thinking.

During the checkout process, based on what was purchased retailer show advertising banners with relevant offers and when ready to checkout before being prompt to pay, you will have a few offers of products and services they offer, many times with a call to action to make a purchase with a special last minute checkout discount.

After checkout, coupons are usually added to the receipt, these can be redeemed in near future purchases.

A few examples:

• Fast food chains like Burger King or McDonalds use the point of sale advertising to promote new products that may influence the ordering decision, maybe try something new.
• Supermarket chains like M&S or Wholefood on the way to and very close to the point of sales, place a fridge or a shelf of goodies, that are considered “easy choice” or “tempting” products.
• When buying consumer electronics that come with a warranty, retailers like Target or Walmart will offer their extended warranty during check out.
• Clothing stores like Columbia or Old Navy, after checkout usually add coupons to the receipt, these can be redeemed in near future purchases.

What can smaller to mid-sized brands do to better their POS and retail ops outcomes and processes?

Small and midsize retailers unlike their large peers may have less resources but they are more agile and can embrace change easier.

I believe they should be more innovative, quickly adopt digital transformation online and in brick and mortar locations and lead the way.

Digital transformation makes our lives better and the adoption of smart devices in retail can streamline operations, save time and money and benefit customers in many ways:

Adopting one or two of the above tools will make a difference.

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If there are five things that retailers and end users should keep in mind when integrating AI to enhance the overall CX, what should they be

Digital transformation usually comes with investment in infrastructure, people, training etc.

If you are going for it, don’t compromise on infrastructure including smart devices, network and protective measures (device management and cyber tools), those will serve you many years to come.

Also, don’t compromise on the quality of people and service providers that will do the implementation and later service you, as those will become the backbone of your operations.

And keep training, as practice makes the difference.

AI is part of digital transformation, and has its pros and cons.

Pros:

Helps provide better customer service

Presents a more customized recommendations

Increases active engagement metrics

Helps generate content easily

Helps engage customers in multiple languages

Cons:

Leads to job cuts and gives preference to highly skilled employees

Boosts that general fear of change that people tend to have

Causes data security fears

There is usually no immediate ROI

I believe that there are more pros vs. cons, when looking back in history with the advancement of technology, the number of new jobs created always supersede the number of jobs lost. Fear of change is normal and when the change is good people adapt, AI in particular requires investment, and if done the right way there will be a positive ROI for many years to come.